bob schieffer

Joel told you yesterday about Rick Kaplan being brought on to replace Rome Hartman as the executive producer of The CBS Evening News. Kaplan is (supposedly) being brought on to replace some of the lighter touches that Katie Couric has brought to the anchor role with some harder news and a different angle (I think the first thing he should do is to just tell her to stop saying "hi, everyone" when she opens the show).

But I'm wondering, will a new producer really help? Nothing against Kaplan (or Couric), but aren't viewers choices when it comes to the network news based on other things besides a new producer (or a new set or new theme music or a new logo)? Sure, he can make wide, sweeping changes, and maybe they'll help the quality of the show (even if they don't help the ratings), but aren't viewers set in their ways? They like Brian Williams. They like Charles Gibson, and these two will battle for the #1 slot. The CBS Evening News has been third for a long, long time, and maybe that's just where it will be, getting 6-7 million viewers a night.

I hope they didn't think the star power of Couric was going to bring the show to #1 quickly, if ever.

(Part 4 of 5)

Katie.

Meredith.

Rosie.

They all made big news and big career moves that changed the face of some very popular programs. This whole domino effect started in April, when Katie Couric announced the "worst kept secret in television" that she was going to replace Bob Schieffer as the sole anchor of the CBS Evening News. She spent her summer conducting town hall meetings with regular folk to find out what they want in a national newscast. And her first broadcast made worldwide news because she debuted Vanity Fair's photographs of the elusive daughter of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise. The excitement over Katie lasted for about a week.

I watch a lot of television, but one thing I'd hate to do is to actually keep track of what stories are talked about the most on the three networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) every night during their newscasts. Luckily, The Tyndall Report does it for me.

What were the three news stories that got the most coverage during the past year? Obviously, the war in Iraq was the No.1 story, followed by Israeli-Hezbollah fighting and the Hurrincane Katrina aftermath. The report lists the top 20 stories of 2006 (and I was very happy to see that Britney Spears' crotch is nowhere to be found on the list).

The report also lists the reporters that had the most airtime. The top three were NBC's David Gregory, ABC's Martha Raddatz and CBS' Jim Axelrod. I thought Lara Logan would be higher on the list, because I always watch her on CBS. The way her hair cascades down and her accent makes me shiver I think she's a first-rate journalist.

In today's Philadelphia Inquirer, three female media figures talk to writer Gail Shister about the high expectations on Katie Couric, who is (altogether now) the first solo female weeknight anchor in network history. All three experts think that people are expecting Couric to turn things around quickly, mainly because of her historic ascension to the CBS Evening News anchor chair. But things don't usually work that way.

One of the experts interviewed was Connie Chung, who knows about this issue more than most; she spent two largely tension-filled years of the mid-nineties co-anchoring the CBS news with Dan Rather. "All this takes an enormous amount of time," she told Shister. "TV viewing rarely changes dramatically, whereas programmers do. I think Katie's holding her own nicely." She goes on to say that experts should stop constantly judging Couric.

I tend to agree with Connie. Yes, Couric's ratings aren't good (in fact, the article states, the November ratings were slightly lower than they were when Bob Schieffer was anchor). But she should be given room to find her legs, no pun intended. She did a pretty nice job on Election Night, which bodes well for her ability to cover breaking stories down the road.

It's been widely reported that after a first week of getting fantastic ratings, the ratings have dropped for Katie Couric's CBS Evening News. This isn't really a big surprise. Of course curious people were going to tune into the show the first week, to see how Katie did, and then as the weeks went by the show would fall back into its third place slot behind The NBC Nightly News and ABC's World News.

So what's up with the commercials for Katie's show? After a montage of her work on the show, the announcer says "More people are watching The CBS Evening News." What does that mean? Isn't that an incomplete sentence? Maybe something like "More people are watching The CBS Evening News than ever before (that wouldn't be true - the ratings are down 2% from the same period last year - but at least there wouldn't be any confusion to the meaning)? The show's ratings are down, so I'm not quite sure what's going on there. Maybe they mean "More people are watching The CBS Evening News...

• "...than went to see the movie Gigli."
• "...while eating cheeseburgers in their underwear."
• "...and what we mean by "More" is the last name, the Mores. They live in Springfield, Illinois and watch the show every night."

After newsman Dan Rather left was fired from was forced out of departed CBS after four decades plus, a lot of people had no idea what the hell he was going to do. But then came news that he had signed on to Mark Cuban's HDNet, and now comes word that Rather's show will start on November 14 at 8pm.

It will be a news show called Dan Rather Reports, with Rather as the anchor, and will feature three segments: the war, a focus on the middle class, and politics. In other words, it sounds a lot like other news shows, but I guess the secret is in how they'll do it.

And to answer the next question you have, no, he really hasn't seen what Katie Couric is doing in his new seat. He's been too busy.

I have a love/hate relationship with that freeSpeech (yeah, that's the spelling CBS seems to like to use so I'll use it too) segment on The CBS Evening News. I think it's an interesting idea, but it has several things wrong with it. First, the topics are usually things that everyone can agree with and aren't really counter to anything. Then we had the revelation from Bill Maher that he wanted to do something controversial on religion, and they kinda balked. And lately I've been seeing freeSpeech segments with Bob Schieffer, who is a CBS newsman and the former host of the show. Huh? Are they not getting enough people who want to talk on TV? I doubt that. And just last week a freeSpeech segment featured Katie Couric interviewing Senator John McCain. Again, huh?

Still, it's a good idea. Tonight might be interesting: TV Newser is reporting that FOX News' Sean Hannity will be giving his viewpoint.

I know, I know, many of you are sick of hearing about her new gig over at The CBS Evening News, her retouched photo, her AOL videos, etc, etc, but a lot of people will be watching tonight when Couric makes her debut as anchor (and managing editor) of the news program at 6:30pm Eastern.

Of course, it's not like CBS is debuting anything groundbreaking here. Couric is a solid newsperson and barring anything crazy happening (a light falling down in the middle of a story, Al Roker streaking across the set, whatever), it will probably just be another newscast. Well done and respectable, but nothing extraordinary. But I'm actually looking forward to this. I actually think that a nightly network news program isn't a dinosaur, something that should be retired, no matter what a lot of bloggers and industry people say.

Two quirky little items about The CBS Evening News.

First, veteran anchor Walter Cronkite has actually taped the intro for when Katie Couric takes over from Bob Schieffer in September. Who knows if the intro will even air, and if it does air if it will be a permanent thing on just a one time thing to welcome Couric.

And speaking of Schieffer, when he leaves the anchor desk, he might become a folk singer! He's written a couple of songs (with another CBS Evening News staffer) that are making their way around Nashville.

[via TV Newser]

CBS is starting to show promos that have current CBS Evening News anchor Bob Schieffer discussing his successor, Katie Couric, telling viewers how great an addtion Katie is to the team, etc. etc. etc. The ads briefly show a serious Coruic on screen but she doesn't speak. According to this article, later ads will show Couric and Schieffer talking about news or oiled legs or something or other.

But what I find interesting about these promos is that they advertise the new newscast as The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. Guess that means she's sticking with "Katie", isn't she? Not sure if that's the best way to go. I mean, this isn't a morning news show, which has no problem giving more time to weddings and makeup tips than to the latest tape from Osama bin Laden. This is hard news; the anchor of the evening news needs to be taken seriously. Doesn't Couric think using "Katherine" might go a little ways towards doing that? It's not like she's never used her full first name before; in fact, she was introduced as "Katherine Couric" on her first day as anchor of Today in 1991. I just think using "Katherine" is a little more dignified and should reflect her new job. At the very least she should use "Kate". "Katie" is just too cutsey for the evening news.

Yeah, I know: "Who cares?" But this is the kind of stuff I wonder about when it's too hot in my apartment and I haven't had my afternoon nap. Anyway, if anyone has an opinion on this, let me know in the comments.

Yup, the end of the Katie Couric era at The Today Show is this Wednesday, May 31. That's her last day on the NBC morning show. She'll work this summer preparing to take over for Bob Schieffer on the CBS Evening News in September. On Wednesday, expect a lot of tears, a lot of laughs, a lot of memories, and a lot of bloopers showing Katie messing up, laughing, and that time she punched Matt Lauer in the face. OK, just kidding on that last one.

So who watches Katie here? If I'm up, I usually watch the Today Show, though the last couple of years I've been switching on over to ABC and CBS to see what stories/guests they have. Is anyone going to miss Couric? Anyone looking forward to Meredith Viera taking over?

Boy, Bob Schieffer really doesn't want to anchor the CBS Evening News anymore, does he? He's been so effusive and enthusiastic over the arrival of Katie Couric, you'd think she was relieving him from his night-shift duties at the local 7-11.

That's the impression I got when I read this Daily Record article about a talk Schieffer gave at Drew University in Madison, NJ, last night. He told the crowd that he was part of the "welcome  wagon" when Couric came to visit the CBS newsroom for the first time, and that she "will remind people that there is an evening news." He also said he admired her personally and professionally, saying she will be a "role model for the people at CBS."

Like I said, Schieffer's starting to sound a little too enthusiastic about this move, doesn't he? I mean, don't get me wrong, Couric has had an admirable career. But he's talking about her like she's the second coming of Edward R. Murrow. Ratchet it back a little, Bob; you're starting to sound like a short-timer.

[via Mediabistro]

CBS has asked current anchor Bob Schieffer to stay on the CBS Evening News as a commentator when Katie Couric takes over in the fall. Two commenatries a week, to be exact.

Schieffer says he'll decide over the summer. He's not sure if he wants to do another commentary during the week, because he already does one on Face The Nation every Sunday. My guess? He'll do them. I think that he's a great presence on the show, and gives the show some old-time newsman gravitas.

On a side note, will Couric stay "Katie" when she takes over in September, or will she switch to "Kate" or "Katherine"? She'll probably stay Katie, because any worry about the name sounding too cute or young went away many years ago, and if she changed it now it would just seem kinda silly.

Just a little over a year after taking over the CBS Evening News desk from Dan Rather, anchor Bob Schieffer is already saying that he'd like to retire within the next year. Schieffer says he would like to return in some capacity to assist with coverage of the 2008 Presidential election.

Since taking over for Rather last year, viewership of Evening News and Schieffer's other hosting gig Face the Nation have both increased. Schieffer went on record as saying that Today co-host Katie Couric would make an excellent replacement.

[via Variety]

CBS Evening News anchor Bob Schieffer knows that his job at the desk is just a temporary gig (though a lot of people would love to see him stay in the position permanently), and Schieffer says that he's enjoying himself but that the length of his stay "depends on Katie," adding, "I hope we get her here."

What do you think? Do you think Katie Couric should come over to CBS when her contract expires to be the new anchor for the show, or do you think she should stay at The Today Show? Or do you have a third option for Ms. Couric?